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The homophobia in the African American community is both religious and cultural. While it's true that they also tend to be very religious, a great deal of it is based on standards and perceptions of masculinity. Some view homosexuality as a white thing.

Australia's Prime Minister is a childless, unmarried atheist who lives with her boyfriend. Yet she is against marriage equality for some reason.

Could she be against marriage equality for political reasons? I know, short answer yes. However, I am unfamiliar with the politics and certainly the culture of Australia. Sure, a first world and western country, but it still has its own identity that I have not encountered.

Yes, Julia Gillard is an Atheist, but is still greatly influened by the religious right.

It is purely political. Tony Abbott - right wing opposition leading catholic, visits the Archbishop of Sydney. George Pell, every fortnight for a cup of tea. George Pell and his Pope are the protectors of pedophiles, but still Julia could not go the atheist way.

I was so disappointed about her views on gay marriage, but appalled at the chaplains in secular schools - at a cost to the taxpayer of 220 million dollars - unforgivable, and then, as with progressive governments, handed out millions of dollars to all private schools - what the!!!!!!

I would say athiests could be homophobic. I believe the term athiest only defines one as a religious non beliver and nothing more. You shouldn't read anything more into it. As a result,athiests could have any or most the biased opinions of religious believers, likely based on factors other than religion.Like the perceptions of masculinity Steve mentioned. I do think athiests would be less likely to be homophobic than religious followers because of their humanity based attitudes and thinking, but there are no sure bets on it.

What I have seen is most people do get their homophobia through their religious texts.

Can an atheist be homophobic? I say that there is certainly a possibility. I find homophobia to be a personal issue in this context. Some may find themselves uncomfortable around homosexuals. However, that begs the question of why do they feel uncomfortable if there is no religion behind it?

Sorry to answer your question with another question, but I find this to be interesting.

I wouldn't be comfortable in sharing my bed with a gay guy and I don't like it when my Russian friends try to kiss me on the lips. This may be considered homophobia and a personal character flaw, though it is based on finding other males sexually unattractive. However, I have no issues with mental attractiveness towards gays as our thought processes are often more identical than females and friendships are easy to establish.